Berkshire County Quitclaim Deed (Trustee Grantee) Form

The party that makes this deed distinctive never signs it. Where a Massachusetts quitclaim deed runs to a trustee, the grantee is not an owner taking for himself or herself but a fiduciary taking for a trust, and the record has to show it: which trustee, which trust, the date of the trust instrument, and where the authority to act can be read. This fillable form is drawn for that conveyance, one record owner as grantor and a trustee as grantee, passing title with the limited covenants that General Laws Chapter 183 calls quitclaim covenants.

The capacity written into the grantee section

Section 2 is where this variant does its work. It collects the trustee and any successor trustee, the trust's name, the date of the trust instrument, and any trustee certificate of record, closing with the grantee's residence and post office address, which Chapter 183, Section 6 makes a condition of acceptance at the registry counter. The deed points at the trustee's authority instead of reprinting the trust. Chapter 184, Section 35 allows a certificate executed by the record trustees to be recorded, setting out the trust, the trustees and the extent of trustee authority, and a purchaser acting in good faith may rely on it. Chapter 203E, Section 1013 lets a trustee furnish a certification of trust in place of the instrument, giving its date, who may sign, and whether it has been revoked or amended, while leaving the dispositive terms out.

Covenants that follow the successor trustees

Massachusetts uses the word quitclaim for a deed that carries real promises. Chapter 183, Section 11 gives a deed drawn in substance on the statutory quitclaim form the effect of a conveyance in fee simple, with the grantor covenanting that the premises are free of encumbrances the grantor made and defending against claims arising by, through or under the grantor, and against none other; Section 17 folds that package into two words. Here the grant runs to the grantee as trustee and to the successors in trust of that trustee, so the covenant reaches whoever holds the office later. Mortgages and easements of record go in the encumbrances section, which the operative section excepts from what the grantor answers for.

A homestead that outlives the transfer

Moving a home to a trustee raises a question no other grantee raises, and Chapter 188 answers it in a clause. Section 10(a)(1) provides that a deed to a trustee of a trust for the benefit of a grantor does not terminate that grantor's existing homestead, which continues as to that grantor's interest as a trust beneficiary; Section 1 counts the holder of a present, vested and non-contingent beneficial interest in a trust as an owner. Section 9 of the form states what the deed does and does not release, since subsection (b) asks for an express release from everyone entitled to the benefit of a homestead on a deed between a trustee and a beneficiary. A new declaration is a separate recorded paper: Section 5 keeps declarations out of title-vesting instruments and has the trustee sign where a home is held in trust.

One grantor, one certificate, one trust

The form recites a single record owner in Section 1, one signature line, and one acknowledgment certificate in the substance of the Chapter 222, Section 15 form; the grantee signs nothing, because a Massachusetts deed operates on the grantor's signature and delivery. A sole owner conveying a home to herself as trustee of her own revocable trust, an owner placing rental property with the trustee of a nominee trust, and a seller whose buyer takes title through the trustee of a family trust all present the pattern this deed recites. The form is not set up for two grantors, for an entity or a representative signer on the grantor side, or for a grantee taking in an individual capacity. Searches for a Massachusetts deed into trust, or a quit claim deed to a trust, describe this configuration.

Recording happens at the registry for the county or registry district covering the land, at the statewide deed fee, with Chapter 64D excise stamps due only where consideration passes one hundred dollars, which a nominal transfer to a trustee does not. The completed example runs a Plymouth County pattern in Duxbury. The download delivers the fillable deed, that example, and a guide covering each numbered section, the certificate, the homestead statement, and recording. The materials describe Massachusetts law in general terms and are not legal advice.